Monday, October 20, 2008

Yes You Can, Stan!

And the year had been going so well for Stan Wawrinka. He shot up the rankings into the top ten after making the final of Rome, and has stuck around, floating round that #8 to #10 slot. Then there was the gold medal in Beijing, partnering Roger Federer to doubles glory, and then...
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...not so much.
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He was the top seed in Vienna, and he lost to Philipp Petzschner, who was a qualifer. Sure, Petzschner went on to make the final, but I don't think that's really an excuse. And then today, in Basel, he had two match points and wasted them in a loss to Benjamin Becker, also a qualifier. Becker-no-relation is pretty promising - he knocked out Davydenko at one of the Slams this year, though I can't remember which one - but really, he shouldn't be beating Stan Wawrinka, especially when said Stan is playing at his home tournament in Basel.
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I sincerely hope that Stan has not suddenly contracted a case of Ana Ivanovic's disease - getting a taste of the big time and not being able to hack the pressure. Because Stan really is a great player. I love his game. I know he has suffered from nerves in the past - he really got dragged by Federer through those first few matches in Beijing - but he can do it. I know he can. I want to send out a Bob The Builder message to Stan today: Can he fix it? Yes he can!
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Meanwhile, what was the deal with the Tursunov match in St Petersburg? I know that Dominik Hrbaty is one of the three players on tour that has a winning record over Federer, but that doesn't mean he should be going round beating Dmitry Tursunov 6-1 6-1. There's something seriously whack with that.
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Today's Results
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Davidoff Swiss Indoors (Basel)
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Benjamin Becker def. Stanislas Wawrinka, 3-6 7-6 (7-5) 7-6 (7-5)
Igor Andreev def. Jurgen Melzer, 7-6 (7-5) 7-5
Mardy Fish def. Agustin Calleri, 7-6 (7-5) 6-2
Feliciano Lopez def. Marco Chiudinelli, 7-6 (7-5) 7-6 (9-7)
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St Petersburg Open (St Petersburg)
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Dominik Hrbaty def. Dmitry Tursunov, 6-1 6-1
Victor Hanescu def. Evgeny Korolev, 6-1 6-2
Rainer Schuettler def. Igor Kunitsyn, 6-2 6-3
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Grand Prix de Tennis de Lyon (Lyon)
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Tommy Robredo def. Michael Llodra, 6-4 6-3
Juan Carlos Ferrero def. Sam Querrey, 6-3 7-5
Julien Benneteau def. Arnaud Clement, 6-3 6-2
Steve Darcis def. Radek Stepanek, 6-4 3-6 6-3
Josselin Ouanna def. Ivan Ljubicic, 6-7 (2-7) 7-6 (7-5) 6-4
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Generali Ladies Linz (Linz)
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Alizé Cornet def. Zheng Jie, 6-3 6-2
Katarina Srebotnik def. Tamarine Tanasugarn, 6-1 7-5
Kaia Kanepi def. Melanie Klaffner, 6-4 6-0
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FORTIS Championships Luxembourg (Luxembourg)
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Anna Chakvetadze def. Mathilde Johansson, 6-4 7-6 (7-4)
Daniela Hantuchova def. Pauline Parmentier, 6-2 7-5
Li Na def. Mandy Minella, 6-2 6-1
Peng Shuai def. Vera Dushevina, 6-1 6-2
Sara Errani def. Marina Erakovic, 4-6 6-2 7-5
Sabine Lisicki def. Sofia Arvidsson, 2-6 6-3 6-4

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